Audio 5:33
AFL opposes pokies laws but says it has no campaign against it

Alison CaldwellUpdated
Mon 26 Sep 2011, 7:00 PM AEST

The boss of the Australian Football League has angrily rejected reports that it is actively campaigning against the Federal Government's push to make gamblers set spending limits before they play poker machines. While Andrew Demetriou says he's raised the matter with the Government, he says he's never spoken to anybody from Clubs Australia or the NRL about the issue.

Transcript

BRENDAN TREMBATH: The boss of the Australian Football League has rejected reports that it is actively campaigning against the Federal Government's push to make gamblers set spending limits before they play poker machines.

Andrew Demetriou has told the Federal Government that the AFL does not support the move. But he says he's never spoken to anybody from Clubs Australia or the NRL (National Rugby League) about the issue.

ALISON CALDWELL: It's grand final week in the AFL, a week normally set aside to celebrate all that's good about football.

Perhaps that's why the AFL's CEO Andrew Demetriou came out swinging when asked about the league's stand on poker machine legislation.

ANDREW DEMETRIOU: I've never spoken to anybody from Clubs Australia. I've never spoken to the NRL about this issue. The AFL is not involved in any campaign. It hasn't got any ads ready to go.

And it's just been appalling the way this has been covered, and every 10 minute grab that we've got some campaign going or we're about to launch some campaign with Clubs Australia.

The fellow from Clubs Australia, I don't even know his name. But please stop talking on our behalf, just shut up.

ALISON CALDWELL: Today club presidents met with the AFL to discuss their concerns about mandatory pre-commitment technology for poker machines.

The presidents of Hawthorn and Collingwood don't like the proposed legislation while Geelong isn't opposed to it.

Andrew Demetriou says the AFL abhors problem gambling but prefers to pursue further education and research and possibly voluntary pre-commitment technology, but that's it.

ANDREW DEMETRIOU: We don't know whether it works. And on that basis we would rather attack the issue of problem gambling and not risk something that hasn't been tried. This is not about the machines. This is about their clubs, what they do with their clubs.

If you, all of a sudden, take away a revenue source, potentially, then clubs, if they're looking at repaying debt or commitments that they've made, if they are short of funds, what they'll do is they'll increase memberships, or they'll come to the AFL and ask us to increase admission prices. So the price for the consumer potentially could go up.

ALISON CALDWELL: He says the AFL has done some basic modelling to test the possible impact on social clubs.

ANDREW DEMETRIOU: Look it could be potentially anywhere between 20 to 40 per cent.

REPORTER: Twenty to 40 per cent of...

ANDREW DEMETRIOU: Of revenue, ehich in turn will flow through ...

REPORTER: ... total club revenue?

ANDREW DEMETRIOU: No, of the gaming revenue.

ALISON CALDWELL: Andrew Demetriou says the AFL isn't compromised and nor are the clubs, many of whom rely heavily on revenue from poker machines.

ANDREW DEMETRIOU: I don't think we're hypocrites at all. We tackle issues head on and we try to effect change. And what we do is we're all about education and prevention. That is our record on lots of issues.

ALISON CALDWELL: And he slammed Clubs Australia and the NRL for dragging the AFL into the debate on this of all weeks.

ANDREW DEMETRIOU: Look can I just say I think it's appalling that, during grand final week, that Clubs Australia and the NRL have decided to raise this issue. This is the biggest week of our year and to somehow use our name to raise this issue I think is appalling.

ALISON CALDWELL: Dr James Doughney is the author of The Poker Machine State. He watched Andrew Demetriou's press conference and believes there's still a chance the AFL could be convinced to change its mind.

JAMES DOUGHNEY: It's a much more mature approach to the issue than Clubs Australia and the NRL have espoused. I still think, however, that the AFL could look more closely at the issue of problem gambling because Mr Demetriou seemed to suggest that there was a possibility of solving the problem by education and prevention.

Unfortunately, given the addictive nature of poker machines, it's not really possible to use prevention and education alone. You need something like the Wilkie reforms to make prevention and education real. If it's really keen about prevention and education the AFL should throw its weight behind the Wilkie reforms.

ALISON CALDWELL: It doesn't sound like they're going to though does it?

JAMES DOUGHNEY: No, but you never know. A chat with Andrew Wilkie was what Andrew Demetriou proposed, and if they go into that chat with an open mind, consider the issues that the Productivity Commission went across in two very intensive research programs.

I would say probably the Productivity Commission's research programs were the biggest research programs ever undertaken on poker machines anywhere in the world.

Now, when that information gets through to the AFL the argument such as, well it's never been tried, seem to go out the window. The logic of the Productivity Commission's case, the heavy research that they undertook, they will convince anyone who's got an open mind.

ALISON CALDWELL: In Western Australia, poker machines are only allowed in casinos and football clubs are thriving.

JAMES DOUGHNEY: What happen, unfortunately, is when the poker machine industry gets its grubby maulers all over football clubs, or other forms of community enterprise, what happens is that those clubs become lazy in their business models and they get addicted themselves to poker machine revenues. And Western Australia is proof positive that you can exist without poker machine gambling revenues in the football.

BRENDAN TREMBATH: The author of The Poker Machine State, Dr James Doughney with Alison Caldwell.